Cold Sunday

The forecast said it would be sunny and warmer today but it was not. There was snow in the air as we headed for church this morning and the temperature never got out of the 30's. I have a graveside funeral service tomorrow and hopefully it will be warmer by then. Janie and I went by the funeral home after church and visited with the family.

Our attendance was down in our morning services but up in our evening services. We had a visiting missionary in our services tonight and his presentation was really good. We spoke with Jason and Angie on Skype and they were doing well. We are looking forward to their visit.

Here are my plans for the week but remember these are my plans and may not line up at all with what God has planned for me.

Monday: Get the message ready for the graveside service, go visit at the nursing home, and then after lunch go to graveside service, Work on the Bulletin for Sunday, Work on the sermon for Sunday Morning.

Tuesday: Ladies Bible Study in the morning, Go to Tyler and check on Sis. Davis, Work on Sunday School Lesson for Sunday.

Wednesday: Get the lesson ready for the night service, Get my hiking gear ready for the Boy's home school group session down at Moss Hill on Friday.

Thursday: Go to Henderson to check on parents and then head down to Moss Hill for the evening.

Friday: Lecture on Hiking and hiking gear; Return to Hillsboro.

Saturday: Prepare Sunday nights sermon, Review Sunday morning sermon; Work on thesis.

That will about do it for that week. I have to also work in getting the Church Van road ready to pick up Jason and his family at the airport next week.

The picture is of my in-laws taken the last week. God bless you.

Davis Funeral

It was cold, 29 degrees, and there was a trace of snow in the air when we arrived at the cemetery this afternoon. The wind was out of the north at about 10 miles per hour. Everyone except the funeral director was in their warm cars waiting. At about 5 minutes till three I got out of the car and walked to the grave side. Bro. Davis' casket was cold in that wind. I took this picture and then looked up to see that everyone else had gotten out of their cars to join me. The service was brief, Bro. Ron Witcher read some verses, said a few words, and then called on me to close with prayer. We visited only briefly due to the cold. They opened the casket to allow those who had not been able to attend the service to see the body. I thought, just for an instant, that he would be cold. I turned and headed for the car. Janie was shivering as we walked back to the car. The drive home was quite, Janie napped off and on. We stopped for a bite to eat and made it home about 6:00.

It was a long day. I had gotten up early and was joined at breakfast by my oldest grandson. We had blueberry bagels with peanut butter. I was making some notes on my sermon and he asked if I enjoyed correcting my sermons. I thought that was an odd question. I have had to correct sermons before and, no, it was not fun. I explained I was just making some additional notes.

The church house was full except for the choir loft. The service lasted an hour and a half. I preached the sermon leaving out several things for fear that I would not be able to control my emotions if I said them. They played the CD of Bro. Davis singing and several people in the congregation cried. It was snowing outside when the service ended. We ate lunch at the church then went over to my mother's house so Janie could change into something warmer. This second picture I took before everyone had arrived. It is of my brother sitting with my grandkids.

Eating too Much

I had 1/2 of a peanut butter sandwich at 7:00 this morning for breakfast, my mother's "boiled dinner" (pictured) for lunch, a hamburger for supper, and a bowl of my mother-in-law's home made soup for a bedtime snack. This would not be so bad if I had walked today but I did not, so there. I will try to get my walk in tomorrow if it does not rain.

After lunch with my mother we went to town to take care of some banking business for my in-law's and then headed to the funeral home to help Sister Davis make the funeral arrangements. It was not until Sis. Davis returned home that she found the paper where Bro. Davis had written down everything he wanted at the funeral. We got close to what he wanted and will make a few adjustments to accommodate as many of his other requests as we can.

The visitation will be Friday night from 5:00 to 7:00 at the Cottle Funeral Home in Overton, Texas. The Funeral will be at 10:00 Saturday morning at Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church. The grave side service will be held at 3:00 Saturday afternoon. We will most likely leave from the grave side and return directly to Hillsboro.

After leaving the funeral home we went to Wal-Mart to get some things for Janie's parents. I stayed in the car and worked on the sermon while Janie did the shopping. I have spent this evening working on the funeral sermon and have a firm grip on it. I am praying that I will get through it with out loosing control of my emotions. I will start by sharing a few of my favorite memories of times I have shared with Bro. Davis. I will try to express what he has meant to me and that will be the tough part. If I make it past that I am home free. With that behind me I will preach a sermon which I have entitled "The Man Of God." I expect that there will be standing room only so would advise anyone planning to attend to arrive early. If it were possible I would broadcast the service on Skype for Jason to see and hear but I am not sure we could work that out.

I have not composed "Tribman" and may not get that done this week. There are just not enough hours in a day, especially this week. I must head for bed and get some rest. God bless you.

Gone To Heaven

Bro. Harold Davis died at 7:05 pm January 27, 2010. Sister Davis called me this morning at 6:37 with the news of his death. We will be meeting with her at the funeral home at 2:00 this afternoon to make the funeral arrangements and I will post the information here. Be in prayer for her, these are difficult times. This morning I am going to type up the sermon I plan to preach at his funeral and may post it here on this blog after the funeral is over. God bless you.

Interment

I have preached many funerals in my short 16 years of preaching, about 12 a year. There is a word that I have been miss pronouncing "interment." I have been saying "internment." There is significant difference between the two words so from now on its "interment" and not "internment." I will leave it to the reader to find out this difference.

Bro. Davis was much weaker today than yesterday. He is going down fast. Bro. and Sister Davis do not need a lot of company right now but they do need a lot of prayers. I do not expect him to make it to the end of the week based on how rapidly his health is deteriorating. Janie and I went by to see him just briefly this afternoon and left a rough draft of the brochure she wants to be handed out at his funeral. We returned to Hillsboro for our evening services and they went very well. We are now back in Henderson and I wanted to blog before heading for bed.

I had a bad headache today so Janie drove part of the way back to Hillsboro while I slept. I was shocked when I woke up from what seemed like just a few minutes of sleep to see that she had been driving for an hour. I had no idea I was that tired. I took over and drove the last 40 miles into Hillsboro. I felt fine after that nap, headache gone and all was well. I want to work on Sunday's sermon in the morning and the Sunday School lesson also. Friday will be thesis day and Sunday night's sermon. I have been working for months on a sermon for Bro. Davis' funeral. It is starting to take shape. I plan to type it out completely, though the delivery will be only sightly like the typed copy. Janie is working on orders and I am headed for bed. The picture is of my father's place of "interment." My father in the ministry will soon be going to his. God bless you.

Retirement

Bro. Brooks, the president of the Seminary, was in his office when I arrived. He helped me look through old issues of the Baptist Monitor for an article about Bro. Davis' retirement. It turns out there was not one about his retirement from the school but there was one about his retirement from pastoring. It was good to visit with Bro. Brooks. His mind is still very sharp. I had left Janie in the car working on her orders on the laptop. We are blessed that she can make $8.00 an hour while traveling around with me.

Bro. Davis was sleeping when we arrived. He is on morphine constantly now. He opened his eyes and said "Bro. Paul" to which I replied "My father, My father, the chariot of Israel and the horseman thereof." It is a quote from the Bible. The king of Israel, Joash, went to see the great prophet Elisha as he lay on his death bed and cried over Elisha and said those, perhaps not so famous, words. We left after an hour and returned to my in-law's house. Janie and I took a very long walk together. I love taking long walks with her, I love her so. When we got back I worked on the bulletin for Sunday and got that done. Just a few minutes ago my daughter called. She had just been in to see Bro. Davis and he was doing about the same as when we were there. He opened his eyes and said her name.

Janie and her mother are cooking supper and it smells really good!! The pictures are of our walk this afternoon. God bless you.

Morphine

I like this photo not just because it is my grandson Jonathan and he is cute. He is playing on the floor pretending to be a puppy. He is doing so right between a walker and a motorized wheelchair. What a contrast his grandfather is taking his picture between his great-grandparent's most prominent aids. He is not old enough to read Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 yet but that is the text that comes to my mind when I see this picture.

We have made an emergency trip to Henderson. I talked to Sis. Davis this afternoon and she said that Bro. Davis was going down hill fast. He ate just a couple of bites at breakfast this morning but nothing else the rest of the day except a little bit of water. He was in such pain this afternoon that they gave him a shot of morphine. I called and cancelled my appointments for Tuesday and we got to the hospice center about 6:30. He does not look well at all and was sleeping well being on morphine. He opened his eyes enough to see that I was there and she asked him if he knew who that was to which he responded "Brother Paul." Sister Davis said that they told her he might last as long as two weeks but I think she believes it may be much sooner than that.

Tomorrow I will be going by TBI to get a copy of the article that was in the Monitor about Bro. Davis when he retired from teaching at the seminary. I will work on a brochure that will be handed out at his funeral. It will contain a brief history of his ministry and the lyrics to one of the songs which he wrote. I have picked out a good picture of him for the front page. I want to get this printed out for her approval and then I will take it to the office supply and have them print a couple of hundred copies.

After his death I plan to enlist some help from volunteers to get the rest of his sermons on the Internet. There are over 1000 of his sermons on there now and there will be well over 2000 by the time we have them all on there. I am not sure that I will be able to tell him but I know that he would be thrilled to hear that over 1600 unique visitors have been to his website in the past six months. He has had over 3000 total hits on his website since August last year.

The funeral that I preached this morning went very well. The woman who died worked in the city library and her husband also works for the city of Hillsboro. There was a big crowd of people at the funeral including our Mayor. Policemen, fireman, Ambulance personnel, City officials and employees of all departments were there. I felt very safe! It was a beautiful clear day and the temperature reached 63 degrees.

If Bro. Davis is still hanging in there Wednesday I may return to Hillsboro for our midweek services and then head back over to Henderson. Pray for Bro. and Sis. Davis. God bless you.

Ton Nom

I was watching my son's youtube videos just now and one of the songs he sang was entitled "Ton Nom." I think it means "Your Name." I did not understand a single word of the song but it sure sounded good. I am still amazed that he has had over 17,000 hits on some of his youtube videos. I hope he will be able to record and post some more. If he keeps this up his name will be a household one. If you would like to check it out you can go to youtube.com and search for "abainfrance."
We had wonderful church services today. Our sound man, Chris, showed a short video called "The Bridge" right before the sermon tonight. It was just a real good service. Chris is a farmer by trade and right before the services I went up to the sound room and visited with him. He has a son named Cole who is about five months old. I asked Chris how old he was when his father had him doing actual productive work on the farm and he said he started driving the tractor at the age of 10. He expects to start Cole at about that same age. Chris is really good in the sound booth and is even better in the field. He comes from a long line of farmers. Their name is well known in Hill county.
I have had a whole lot of reponse to the picture I posted of Bro. Davis. There are so many lives that he has touched. Mine, perhaps, more than any others. His name is well respected among the pastors of our Baptist Association. Many want to be kept posted about how he is doing.
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold." How about "Ton Nom." The picture is one taken a few years ago at the ABA national meeting and is of my son Jason, daughter Sarah, and Janie. God bless you.

Ladies meeting

Most often it is I that stands behind the pulpit and Janie that sits in the pew. But every now and then the roles are reversed. These pictures were taken at the district Ladies Auxiliary meeting which we attended today. Janie is the president and moderates the meeting. The sermon that Bro. Dawson, pastor of Westview Baptist Church, brought today was outstanding taken from Romans chapter 16. They served soup and sandwiches afterward and that too was wonderful. After getting back to the house I worked on Tribman and have it ready for Janie to proof read.

We talked with Jason and Angie on Skype and they are doing well. They had four people to come to the Bible study on Thursday so they are off to a great start. We are so looking forward to their arrival back in the States. They told us not to buy any groceries before they come. They want to go to the store first thing when they get here and buy all their favorites and cook their favorite meals which they miss so. They will be here on February 12th.

Tomorrow, church. Monday, funeral. Tuesday, study. Wednesday, thesis. Thursday, Davis. Friday, parents. Saturday, Sunday. Going to be a busy week. God bless you.

DVD Fix

This morning I took my mother-in-law to her hair dresser appointment (pictured). Janie met us there later and after I got my mother-in-law back in the car I headed to the hospice center to see Bro. Davis (pictured below). He was doing better there than he was at home. There were four visitors in the room when I arrived and two of those left when two others arrived. I stayed for a while and then after praying with him I left to return to Henderson.

My mother's DVD was not working so I stopped by her house to fix it. The cables were not plugged into the right spot on the TV so after moving them it worked just fine. Mother was doing some carpentry work when I arrived. She wanted to underpin her back porch to keep animals from getting under it. She was almost through having just one spot about two foot square left to cover. She has taken her "Bear" blanket to the hospital with some others and given it away. Though Jean, Janie, Paul, Ralph, and Denise asked her not to she had it in her mind to give it away so she did.

We have to rise early in the morning to go to the district ladies auxiliary meeting. I have a funeral service Monday so it looks like next week is going to be a busy one. God bless you.

Hospice

We went by to see Bro. Davis today and he was not in pain though he had a really bad night. His bags were packed and they were waiting for the Hospice people to come and take him to the Hospice center. There is much doubt that he will return home. I do not know how long he has before his departure but I can not help but think it won't be long. I plan to go by the Hospice center in the morning to check on Bro. Davis. This picture was taken in 2007 at TBI during my mother-in-law's retirement party.

I went for a walk with Janie right before sundown. We only did a little over two miles but it was fun and the weather was perfect. A friend stopped to talk with us on his way home. He was riding around looking for wild hogs and should not have had any problem finding some for there are signs of them all around. We got back to the house before dark. Janie has been working on Bible questions for her mother to give to the members of her church. She is working on orders now while I blog.

Jason and Angie are looking into coming back to the States in February. We are anxious to see them. They had Bible study at their house today and I hope it went well.

My mother-in-law fell out of her chair yesterday and Janie is going to take her to the doctor tomorrow to make sure she has not broken anything. Mostly it is her ankle that is bothering her.

Well it's off to bed for me. God bless you.

Hidden Church

This picture is of a wall hanging that my mother quilted. It hangs on the wall of our living room here in Hillsboro. If you look carefully you can see a church building complete with a steeple. Of all the features on this work of art the church is the least visible.

One time a man from Belgium came to the U.S. to visit the plant where I worked. I picked him up at his hotel and brought him to the plant and gave him a tour. I can remember that he was amazed at the number of church buildings there were in Longview, Texas. He said to me "This must be a very religious city to have a church on almost every corner." It was an interesting point of view. In our small town of Hillsboro, population 8256, we have 23 church buildings. The seating capacity of all of these combined is about 5ooo. That leaves 2,256 people who have to stand on Sunday mornings. There are 200 in nursing homes and 20 or so at any one time in the hospital so maybe only 2000 would have to stand on Sunday mornings. It would be great if the number of church buildings in a town was an indication of the piety of its people. None of the churches in our town have standing room only Sunday mornings. According to the pastors I have talked to church attendance is down. Churches seem to go unnoticed by all but outsiders like the man from Belgium. I have been to that man's town and there is only one church building and his town is the same size as Hillsboro. The seating capacity of that building was about 350. There were people buried under the floor of that building, which seemed strange to me.

We are blessed indeed to have such freedom of religion and to have need for more church seating than 350. It would be good if all religions could come together and all believe and teach the truth. If you move to Hillsboro you have 23 churches from which to choose. If you move to that town in Belgium you only have one. My understanding is that that one does not have a seating capacity problem. My son Jason is a missionary in a town in France which does have more than one church building but no where near 23. Our church building is not hidden it is seen by more eyes than any other church building in town because of our location. Why then are not our pews full on Sunday morning? Can a church be hidden when in full view? When I think that there are places in this world which have no church buildings at all I thank God that I live in the United States of America. Also I am thankful that though we may have skeletons in our closets we don't have anyone buried under the floor. God bless you.

Bare Feet

In 1959 my father became the pastor of a small church in Trinidad, Texas. We moved there from Henderson, Texas in October of that year. Our first winter there was very cold. The house in which we lived had one gas space heater. They did not run the heat at night so in the morning it was very cold. I can remember shivering by the fire in the living room. I also remember getting sick and mother having to take me to the doctor, a thing they rarely did. While waiting to see the doctor I felt like I was going to throw up and told my dad and he said "Okay, hold on it won't be long." I threw up all over my lap and after they got me cleaned up they moved me right in to see the doctor. I was given a shot and sent back home. That spring the school teacher told us students that we could come to school bare footed. We were all thrilled and my mother was very happy as well. Shoes were only worn to school and church in the summer time. I remember spending a week each summer on my grandparents farm. We did not wear shoes running around the barn yard and did not mind a bit stepping in what the farm animals deposited there. We would just wipe our bare feet off on the grass and then on the rug before going into the house for lunch.

It was also in Trinidad that me and my brother Steve were told by our dad how to stand up to bullies. There was a bully that pushed us around all the time. One day my dad told us to tell him that we were going to meet him after school and that each of us was going to take one of his legs and we were going to pull him in two. We were very excited about this prospect. With great enthusiasm we sought out the bully and with great excitement in our voices we told him our plans. He did not seem impressed nor scared but after school he was no where to be found. He left us alone from that day forward. It was in Trinidad that we had a dog named Carla which my dad named after the hurricane that hit the coast that year. My dad worked for the post office in Trinidad and once my mother had me to walk down there to see if we had any mail. I remember stepping inside and there was no one there. I did not know what to do so I just called out "DADDY." From behind a wall covered with little small doors his voice came, "Yes." He seemed glad to see me and being just 7 years old and bare footed I felt so important to be entrusted with getting the mail and getting it delivered home safely. Life back in 1960 was nothing like it is today.

Our day today was productive and enjoyable. Tomorrow will be no less. The picture is of me as a child. God bless you.

Number 10

The news I received and withheld is this: Jason and Angie are expecting their fifth child in September. Jason announced this on his blog so I figure it is okay for me to let the news out now. We are excited for them and anxious to see the new arrival. This will, of course, mean a trip to France for Janie and me in September. We are starting to save for this trip now. It will take about $2000.00.

Now maybe you can suggest where will I put the pictures of our two newest grandkids. The picture is of a frame we have on our dinning room wall. We could take Stacie and Scott's picture out for Elijah, their newest, and Jason and Angie's picture out for their newest. We could remove our picture and Sarah and Justin's picture then purchase another of these frames for our pictures and any future grandkids with which God may bless us. Suggestions are welcomed just leave me a comment.

I went to the nursing home this morning and had good services and visit there. I had a counseling session afterward and then returned home to work on the next Episode of Tribman and got it and the bulletin for Sunday done. Ladies Bible study will be in the morning and tomorrow night we will have services with the church down in Lorena.

The Sermon for Sunday will be about the Great White Throne judgment which will finish up chapter 20 of Revelation. Chapter 21 won't be too difficult but Chapter 22 will be tough. The Thesis is back on track and Wednesday I will make some serious progress on it, Lord willing.

Looking forward to your comments, God bless you.

What a Day

I received some news today that I can not tell here at this time. I shall wait to announce it after those who bore the news to me have had a chance to break the news to others. In a day or two I will break the news here but for now I will joy in the fact that I have caused you to wonder.

We had outstanding services at church today. I got to the church house about 7:00 this morning and went over the sermon. I went to the auditorium and preached to the empty pews. I could not wait to share the message with the people. We had one to join our church this morning and we will baptize her next week most likely. I preached a sermon tonight on how you can know that you are saved. The business meeting went well and, as I use to say to Sarah, "I survived another one."

Oh what a busy week I have ahead of me. I will help in the nursing home services in the morning, work on the thesis tomorrow afternoon, compose the next Tribman episode, get the bulletin ready for next week and that is just tomorrow's work. I may make a special trip over to Tyler to see Bro. Davis and help Sis. Davis with their income tax. The picture is of the front of our house here in Hillsboro. God bless you.

Hospice

We went by to see my mother today on our way back to Hillsboro. She is doing great. She made some hot tea and served it with some pound cake she had made. It was good and the visit was good. She has been staying busy cleaning around her house and making baby blankets.

We went by to see Bro. Davis and he is now under hospice care. He is very weak and is no longer able to get out of bed on his own. His wife is hurting from having to handle him. Please keep them in your prayers. Next Wednesday is their 62nd anniversary and unless the Lord intervenes he will not see another.

We enjoyed the visit with our grandkids last night and our daughter also. She brought two hasps and two padlocks for their trailer and I put those on this morning while a light rain fell on my pate (google that word). The pictures were taken of their visit on Friday.

Sarah and her husband are coming for a visit. They went to the Fort Worth livestock show today and are going to spend the night with us and visit our church services in the morning. I have supper cooking in the oven and am looking forward to their visit.

My father-in-law has a new lift chair, a part of which you can see in the second picture. It may not be as comfortable as he might like but it is much easier for him to get out of. God bless you.

Two Walks and A Bicycle

I ended up taking two walks today and a stationary bicycle ride. I took my mother-in-law to her hairdresser appointment while Janie stayed with her dad and there was a stationary bicycle exercise device there so I gave it a try. I also took a walk down to the lake that is just over a half mile from the hairdresser's shop. The picture is one I took with my cell phone of me by the lake. Two or three years ago we had a severe drought and this lake completely dried up. There was a field of grass growing where you see the water in the picture. The second walk I took this afternoon down the road on which my in-laws live. Janie needed a nap so while she napped I walked. This second picture is of Janie working on Internet orders for Sullivan Supply. Business has been real good lately so she has had to put in a lot of time. She does these on the couch instead of the dinning room table so she can keep her dad company.

We are expecting our daughter Stacie and her kids to be here this evening. They are coming for a quick visit and to install a lock on their camper trailer. There have been some kids playing in the trailer and she was afraid they might get hurt. It will be good to see them and they should be here in an hour or so.

This last picture is of my mother-in-law's motorized chair waiting for her to return. I am going to do get some work done before the kids arrive so had better get to it. God bless you.

That Fixed That

I made some repairs here at my father-in-law's house this morning. The bathroom door hinge and come loose and the screws holes were stripped out. I moved the hinge up about a 1/2 inch and that fixed that. The threshold to the door between the kitchen and the hall was loose and sticking up so I put screws in it an that fixed that. You can see both in this picture.

My brother-in-law took my father-in-law to get a massage this morning and Janie took her mother this afternoon to the doctor's office for a check up. I talked to Janie just a bit ago and they are at the Lazy Boy recliner store in Tyler and are buying a lift type recliner with massage and heat built into it. Hopefully they deliver.

Since Janie went with her mother I had the house to myself for a while and worked on my thesis. I have started a "note" file where I make notes about my research. I will keep this file as a record of my research work. I did not have the books I needed to do translation so I did reading instead. I found some more sources on the Song of Songs and made not of those. I closed my research work today by reading the Song of Songs. If time permits I will end every research session that way.

I am reading the Bible through in reverse order this year. I have read all the books of the New Testament with the exception of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. At the rate I am going I will finish the New Testament next by the end of January.

I am going to go for a walk before it gets dark outside. I am doing my best to exercise everyday including my 25 push ups. God bless you.

Oh Me Oh My, Obadiah

Obadiah, wow what a good book. I will be bringing "Lessons from Obadiah" tonight in our service. I woke up this morning thinking "Obadiah is going to be a rather dull text for tonight." I could not have been more wrong. It is the shortest book of the Old Testament and its background and timing are difficult at best to determine with complete accuracy. I got to studying for tonight's text and found a treasure. How in the world I could have thought this book to be dull is beyond me now.

Janie and I have had a good day. She did not come to bed until 3 this morning. I went for a 4 mile walk and read 14 chapters in the book of Acts. While she took a nap I went to the bank and gas station. We are packed for going over to Henderson tonight. I will take her mother to see the doctor tomorrow while she stays with her Dad. I plan to go by and see Bro. Davis on our way back to Henderson Saturday morning. I am going to take my tools and do some repairs for my in-law's while I am there. The picture is of me and my mother-in-law waiting in the van for my father-in-law to finish his cancer treatment last week. God bless you.

Rowbill

It started with me putting my tie on at 8:00 AM and I took my tie off at 9:00 PM. I did manage to get in about a three mile walk and read the book of Romans today. The ladies Bible study was great and the service tonight I really enjoyed. I preached a sermon entitled "Why Church." I may do this sermon as a series at my church this summer.

Janie and I splurged for supper tonight by getting a salad at McDonald's. It was good and we ate it while watching the news. Janie is working now while I was getting an article ready to send off to the Baptist Monitor. I also needed to email some files to the Secretary/Treasurer of the MBA of Texas. That is all done now so when I finish this blog I will write a couple of thank you notes then head for bed. The church down in Hewitt gave us a very generous Christmas love offering. One of the ladies, Johnnie, gave us some homemade bread and homemade sweet rolls. She showed us a doll that she made that was amazing. It is a triple doll. First it was Little Red Riding Hood and then when you flip it over and invert the dress it is Little Red's grandmother. When you flip her bonnet over the face on the back side of her head is the wolf in Granny's clothes. I will have to see if I can get a picture of it. It was amazing. Three dolls in one. I had heard of double dolls before but this was a new twist.

There is a cat that belongs to our neighbor that hangs around our yard. Our granddaughter, Hannah, has named it "Rowbill." I do not know how she came up with that name. My daughter has asked me to speak to the home school boy scout group to which my grandson belongs. I am going to take my hiking gear and do a little show and tell about hiking. I am going to show them how to make an alcohol stove out of two soda pop can bottoms. I am looking forward to it. She tells me there are 15 boys in the group.

I am going to plan a hike somewhere soon. I need the exercise and a day like today would have been perfect hiking weather. I have not played a round of golf in a very long time so this spring I am thinking about taking Janie over to the golf course and let her drive me around while I hit then search for golf balls. Here I am talking about recreation when I have tons of work to do. Janie asked if I had plans for vacation this year and I do not. I am not sure I will even take one. If I do it will probably involve spending time with grandkids. Well I better get those thank you notes done and ready to mail. The first picture is of my mother's apple pie, not exactly a deep dish pie but very good. The second picture is of the stool that my mother uses when sitting at the table. Her legs are too short to reach the floor so dad made her this stool. God bless you.

Ecc. 7:2

The funeral went very well this afternoon. I spent the morning catching up on some Bible reading. I also took a walk this morning while thinking about the funeral sermon. The Bulletin is ready for Sunday, at least my part. Janie made us some Frito Pie for supper and after I blog I will work on some thank you notes then review the sermon for tomorrow night.
The picture is one I took at the cemetery this afternoon. This is the grave of one of our church members whose funeral I did back in October. It was raining and cold that day and every one's feet got wet. Today was much nicer weather and the service was indoors. I went to the graveside to be with the family as the casket was lowered into the grave. A couple from our church rode with us over to the funeral. We enjoyed their company and it was a blessing to the family to have them present.
Tomorrow will be a busy and long day. I plan to start early and "Git-R-Dun." I feel it is going to be a really great day. God bless you.

The Lord's Day

Janie fixed us some corn dogs for supper tonight. I like to eat junk food every now and then and I suppose that is okay as long as you don't make a habit of it. You might argue that a corn dog is not junk food and I suppose there are worse things to eat. Either way that corn dog sure was good.

We had a great service this morning. Jason was on the big screen in our auditorium and spoke to us live from Magrie, France. I think the people were impressed. We also took up a special offering to go toward the cost of replacing some of the light fixtures in our auditorium. We needed about $1400 and we got about $1700. Tonight we had a guest speaker who is trying to raise the funds needed to revitalize a church that has declined in membership. Our Church started that particular church 26 years ago and we hate to see it declining. The deacons meeting after the services was short for currently all things are quiet and going well.

One of our church members gave us a DVD of the movie "Most" a clip of which you will find in the right column of this blog. We watched it twice this afternoon and it was good. I plan to show this movie, which is only 30 minutes long to our congregation on Sunday night the 24th of this month. The emphasis will be on why we do what we do as Missionary Baptists.

This afternoon I had a long visit with one of our church members who is normally consider a "shut-in" because her health is not good. She was at church this morning and wanted me to come by for a visit. It was good visit and I need to do more of that for our "shut-in's"

This evening I plan to get some reading done and to work on the bulletin for next Sunday. I have a funeral tomorrow and plan to work on my thesis afterward. Tuesday will find me at two Bible studies one here at the parsonage in the morning and one in the evening down in Lorena south of Waco. I am looking forward to both of these. It is what I live for and what I love to do, teach the Bible. God bless you.

Old Tech

I am resorting to some old technology tomorrow for my Sunday School class. I have an overhead projector that I used to use a lot when I pastored at Gum Springs and when I taught Sunday School at Pleasant Hill. We will be covering the division of the land of Israel during the Millennium. A picture is worth a thousand words so tomorrow I will show them some pictures. I went to the church office to get some work done and get setup for my class and a friend came buy for a visit. When I got home I took a walk and read the books of Galatians and Ephesians. I cooked some supper and thought I would blog before reviewing my sermon for tomorrow. Janie talked to Jason today and I talked with both of our daughters today. All is well with each of them.

Janie and I have a date tonight. We are going to watch a movie together and that will be fun. The picture is one I took with my cell phone of me and my father-in-law waiting for a very long time for his lab work results to arrive. God bless you.

On the Move

Janie is driving us home while I blog. The picture is of me and my mother holding an Afghan which she recently finished. My sister, Jean, gave her the pattern for it. I got up at 3:00 this morning to help Janie move her dad's chair out and replace it with another one. It has gotten to the point that he can not get out of his old chair and was dreading sitting in it for that reason. You can see from the second picture him sitting in the other chair. We went back to bed and I got up at 8:00 and took the trash off and delivered groceries to Janie's uncle Trenton.

We left the Taylor's and went by to visit with my mother and then to Bro. Davis. He is very weak and is using a walker now. He is not eating and drinking enough to suit his wife. He did not seem to be in any pain though he is on pain medications.

I drove the first half of our journey home and Janie is driving the second. I am going to work on the sermon for Sunday and should have it all typed up by the time we are home. God bless you.

Cold

We made it to the Taylor's house last night about 12:30. We went to bed about 1:30 and I got up about 2:30 coughing. I stayed up until the medicine kicked in and then went back to bed about 3:00. Janie stayed with her mother at the beauty shop and worked on her orders while I took her dad to the cancer center. A lab machine was broke so it took a long time for him to find out if he could take his treatment. It turned out there was a problem so they gave him a lower dose. We finished up in Tyler about 5:00 and got home near 6:00. Janie and I just got back from the store. The Taylor's and Janie's uncle Trenton were out of several things. The first picture is of Janie getting the grocery list from her uncle. The second picture is of me waiting for the gas pump to finish filling the tank. It was 26 degrees and the wind was blowing out of the north at about 15 mph. God bless you.

Short Day

Most of my days are long. They begin early and end late. Today was somewhat different. I went to bed on time but rose coughing at 1:00 am. I stayed up until 2:00 for the cough medicine to kick in. I ended up sleeping to nearly noon. This makes the day very short. I went to the post office at 3:00 this afternoon and as I was coming out of the post office I spoke to a lady coming in and said "Good morning." I did go and buy groceries at Brookshire's. I have slept more than half the day away. I suppose I needed to catch up.

Mother called to see if we were coming to Henderson. She wanted to make sure I knew that the weather was going to be bad. We do plan to go to Henderson tonight. Janie and I will take her parents in the bitter cold to Tyler so her dad can get his cancer treatment and she can get her hair fixed. Last night I did get a handle on the text for Sunday. It is a tough text and I am looking forward to teaching the lesson. The picture is one I took of Janie today working in the kitchen. We keep our thermostat set on 70 and she often gets cold. God bless you.

Questions

At the ladies Bible study this morning I started the session by fielding questions. The discussion that followed was good. We did not make much progress on the study but did have a good time. Janie and I went to get a hair cut this afternoon and I look much better. Janie on the other hand always looks great.

I worked on the Sunday School lesson today and it took me longer than normal. It is a difficult text and I am not through with it yet. After I blog I will get back on that again before heading for bed. I took a walk today and read the books of Peter, the three epistles of John, and Jude.

My mother-in-law called and said she had a problem. It seems she did something and the TV and computer were not working. Connie fixed the TV for her and I talked her through fixing her computer so all is well. Even though this is going to be the coldest weather we have seen in some time, Janie and I are still planning to go to Henderson to take her parents to Tyler for their appointments. We will head home on Friday stopping by to see my mother and Bro. Davis. They are predicting a low of 13 on Saturday morning. It seems very cold now but I can remember waiting for the bus on the side of the road out in front of my aunt Mariel's house in Ayer when I was a kid and the temperature was -20. I remember it hurt to breath at that temperature.

The picture was taken a year and a half ago at our youngest daughter's wedding. It is of my mother-in-law, sister-in-law Connie, and father-in-law. God bless you.

Chicken Fried Steak

I just finished eating supper. Janie made chicken fried steak and it was mmmm good. The day has gone well. I coughed a lot last night after going to bed so got back up about 1:00 and talked to Jason for a bit. He was about to take the kids to school. I stayed up until my coughing settled down a bit and then went back to bed about 2:30. Janie had a lot of work to do so she did not come to bed until 5:00 this morning.

I got up deciding not to go to the pastor fellowship since I had not gotten a very good nights sleep. I went to the bank and post office and then got to working on the bulletin for next Sunday. I had some phone calls concerning a funeral on Monday. The brother of one of my church members has died and they want me to preach his funeral. It was to be a graveside service but since the weather is going to be bitterly cold they will have the service indoors. I also had a call from a friend who is going to come by for a visit on Saturday and I am looking forward to that. I talked with a missionary and set up an appointment for him to come and share his vision with our church. The afternoon ended with a walk and a slow read through the book of Revelation.

Janie and I had to go to Waco to get some toner for the printer. Jason's monthly report finished off the toner and we had to run the rest of them with the copy machine at the church. Tomorrow we have the ladies Bible study in the morning and then I will work on the sermon for Sunday. Wednesday morning I plan to work on my thesis. The picture is of the gift that my son-in-law brought back for us from his trip to Paraguay. God bless you.

Day Three

This is day three of the new year and our church services, though low in attendance, went very well. My voice held out for both services and I coughed very little during the sermons. I took a good nap this afternoon. Tonight I will work on the next episode of Tribman and get the bulletin ready for next Sunday. Tomorrow I want to attend the pastor's fellowship in Arlington and will if I feel okay. Tomorrow afternoon I will work on my thesis which I have not touched in over a month. It looks like some cold weather is headed our way this week about the time we head over to Henderson. I will go by and visit with Bro. Davis and also with my mother. I need to work out at time with her where she can come and spend a weekend with us.

The first picture is of the workmanship of our granddaughter, Ruth. She left this behind on our table not wanting to destroy her hard work. I will let it be for another day then place it in the toy box. The second picture is of Janie telling Hannah goodbye. God bless you.

Back to Normal

This is a picture of my grandkids when we went to Mcdonald's. The man in the picture is one of our church members and a very good friend. He and his wife wanted to do this for our grandkids and seemed to enjoy watching them play. This is the same couple that drove over 180 miles one way to attend my father's funeral. They got lost and were not actually there but I have them in my mind counted as present. Their daughter died a few years ago and I preached her funeral. They are a very generous couple.

Our life is now back to normal with the holidays behind us. Sunday I will be preaching on the subject of "The Supper of our Great God." It concerns the battle of Armageddon a battle which my eyes shall see from a bird's eye view. The Sunday School lesson is also from a very exciting text. We will wade with the prophet Ezekiel in a river that will one day flow, a river where angel feet have trod. I do not know if I will be allowed to wade in that river but I like to think that I will. How wonderful it will be when our faith is turned to sight.

I had a bad night of coughing last night and got little sleep. I took a nap late this afternoon and woke up coughing. I will do the best I can to get through the sermon tomorrow without coughing. God bless you.

New Years Day

Well I started my new year off asleep. Went to bed about 11:00 and got up this morning at 4:45. Stacie and I headed to the airport to pick up Scott. There was no traffic and the roads were good even though it was 28 degrees. We had to wait only a few minutes for Scott to clear customs and then we headed back home. The kids were very excited to see their dad. He brought back gifts for everyone and some good pictures of his trip. He had a really good time.

I took a long nap and have been feeling very good today. I did not have any fever today as far as I know. I have a bad cough and hope to shake that off soon. So far my voice is very deep but staying with me. I will be singing bass Sunday for sure.

I took this picture today, after my nap, of Janie reading a book to the grandkids. Having company for two weeks has caused me to miss her though we have not been, for any significant period of time, parted this fortnight.

It has been wonderful having the grandkids here for Christmas and we had a white one as well. It is a bit sad to think that we will not know or be known by our other grandchildren as well as these. This sacrifice is for the glory of God and though, compared to many, it is a small one nonetheless we lay it upon the altar willingly, knowing that those who loose their life for Jesus' sake, save it.

This year may we all offer our bodies a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable unto God. Happy New Year to all. God bless you.